Chapter 312: TRANSLATED
I killed the Demon King. It was a mistake.
Episode 312
Michael's gaze grew fierce.
"What are you trying to say?"
"Back then, I wiped the blood from His Imperial Majesty's face and neck with a handkerchief, just like now. Suddenly, I'm reminded of that time."
Hilos wiped the blood from the Emperor's collar.
"Brother, you were born as the eldest son and naturally became the Crown Prince. But you weren't a knight. Among the people of the Goldmile family, you were the only one who wasn't born with Aura."
"What are you trying to say now?"
"So you killed all your brothers, didn't you? The second brother, the third brother, and even the fourth brother. But you didn't kill me alone. Why did you do that?"
Michael met Hilos' eyes. The image of Michael reflected in Hilos' eyes was stiff. Michael was uncomfortable with Hilos' touch.
"Because you wiped the blood on my face. You wiped my face and hands, which were stained with your brothers' blood, to please me. That's when I felt it. I thought you were worth keeping alive."
"Do you know something? My hands were trembling so much that I wiped places where there was no blood. Places like your chest or shoulders."
"I knew that too."
"Why did you kill my brothers?"
Michael grabbed Hilos' wrist.
"Why are you asking this now?"
"Because I feel like I won't be able to hear the truth if not now. Were you afraid of your younger brothers?"
"Afraid?!"
Michael pushed away Hilos' wrist.
"Those fellows tried to steal the rightful authority of the eldest son. The three of them conspired together and tried to usurp my position!"
"So that's why you killed all three brothers' wives, children, and their entire families without leaving anyone?"
"Yes! I had to kill them all. Those fools dared to try to control the supreme me."
"They were all descendants of the twelve knights who defeated the dragon with the first Emperor and established the Empire. You don't know how much blood was shed when you branded them as rebels and waged war."
"So what do you want to say to me!"
"You were afraid, weren't you?"
"What?"
"You were afraid of losing the throne, weren't you? Because you alone couldn't handle Aura, while all your other brothers, including me, could."
"No!"
Hilos grabbed Michael by the collar.
"Tell the truth! Michael! You were afraid, weren't you!"
"I said no!"
Hilos took out a fountain pen from his pocket and pressed it against Michael's neck.
"Tell me now! Michael Goldmile! Say that you killed your brothers because you were afraid!"
"Wh-what are you doing now!"
"Your brothers acknowledged you as the Crown Prince! Beyond that, they were trying to unite for the sake of the Eileen Empire! But you! You ruined everything!"
Michael tried to grab Hilos' wrist to remove it, but couldn't. This was because Hilos was gathering Aura flowing in his lower abdomen to resist.
"Because of your meaningless anxiety, you killed all your brothers and intimidated me!"
Hilos slowly pushed the fountain pen into his neck with his whole body.
"You deserve to die...! You must pay the blood price for my brothers!"
"Ugh... Ugh!"
The sound of blood boiling was heard. Bloody tears flowed from the old Emperor's eyes. Hilos' tears also added to the Emperor's bloody tears.
"Die, Michael. This is revenge for my brothers."
Hilos pushed the fountain pen all the way in. The carriage stopped and the door opened urgently.
"What's happening, Your Imperial Maj...!"
Hudson couldn't continue speaking. Hilos, breathing heavily, looked at the slumped Emperor. Hilos threw the old handkerchief, which had just wiped blood, in the Emperor's face.
Now it was all over.
***
The audience hall was too narrow to contain the battle between Caesar and Eligos.
Every time Caesar's axe flashed, a storm raged, and when Eligos' sword cut through the air, the entire area was devastated.
The range of the battle between Caesar and Eligos expanded beyond the audience hall to the entire palace. Galahad couldn't hide his distress at seeing the 250-year-old palace being destroyed, but there was nothing he could do. It was not even easy to keep the battle between Caesar and Eligos in sight.
The pillars broke and the audience hall began to collapse.
"Take the wounded and get outside immediately!"
Galahad took the Crown Prince outside first. Coming outside, Galahad looked at the palace. The palace was collapsing futilely like a sand castle. It felt like the pride and history of the Eileen imperial family were crumbling.
"...Did it collapse so futilely?"
Had the symbol of the empire, which had lasted for more than 200 years, been so easily tarnished and damaged? Galahad's hands trembled with the desire to immediately behead Eligos.
Clang! Clang!
But the battle was so intense and fierce that Galahad could not dare intervene.
When Caesar's axe flashed, sharp winds targeted the gaps in Eligos' armor or vital points, and Eligos parried all of them with just one swing. Both Caesar, who launched dozens of attacks with a single swing, and Eligos, who nullified all those attacks with a single swing, looked like monsters.
A situation where it was impossible to tell who had the advantage and who was at a disadvantage. What was most incomprehensible was why Eligos' bizarre devil abilities had no effect on Caesar.
Galahad's eyes caught Raven.
"Lady Raven!"
"Don't talk to me. It's distracting my concentration."
Raven dismissed Galahad's words with a single sentence. And she poured one-man support magic onto Caesar.
Galahad is a Dawn Knight who protects the Empire and the Emperor. No matter who Raven was, he needed to know how this situation was unfolding.
"What's going on right now?"
"Instead of worrying about that, protect me."
"Pardon?"
Devils began appearing around the imperial palace one after another. They were all members of Mugeuk who followed Eligos.
The Dawn Knights raised their swords.
"If we stop them, can we win?"
"I don't know."
Caesar's thunderous axe struck Eligos' armor. Eligos' armor was dented. At the same time, Eligos' elbow hit Caesar's chin.
"But if we don't help Caesar now, we'll lose."
Galahad took a deep breath in and out. What is this fight for? The imperial palace has already collapsed, and the Emperor is nowhere to be seen.
The things that should be protected are not visible, and the honor and pride of being the Empire's greatest knightly order have been completely shattered by a single devil.
In this situation, what should Galahad do? Shouldn't he find the missing Emperor and guide Crown Prince Trika, the only seed of the imperial family, to a safe place?
"Knights of the Emperor, raise your swords."
At Galahad's command, the Dawn Knights raised their swords. There was no trace of damaged pride or doubt about the skills they had built up until now. The Dawn Knights were soldiers before they were knights. Soldiers obey only orders.
"From now on, we will punish the enemies of the Emperor."
Galahad could have made the decision to flee to protect the Crown Prince. But Galahad chose to defend rather than retreat. It wasn't for the sake of honor restoration, nor was it an emotional decision to mend damaged pride.
The Dawn Knights are the knights who symbolize the Imperial Province and the final punctuation mark of imperial power. He feared that if they fled out of fear of losing to devils, the people would remember the Eileen Empire as a country of cowards. The devils sweetly whispered.
"Open the way, Dawn Knights. If you flee, we won't chase you."
"There are overflowing reasons why we must confront you."
"What are the reasons?"
"You attacked the Emperor and harmed the Empire's subjects. You dared to step with your filthy feet into the sacred garden of the Empire and thrust your dirty horns. That alone is reason enough for you to die here."
Galahad glanced at Caesar. Why was that man fighting with Eligos?
For the imperial subjects?
Or for His Imperial Majesty?
Galahad couldn't understand why Caesar was fighting, but one thing was certain: only that man could kill Eligos.
"Everyone, charge!"
At Eligos' movement, the Dawn Knights charged.
At the same time, the armor of the Dawn Knights flashed with a golden light. Like the sun that burns itself to emit light.
***
Eligos' sword met Caesar's lefty.
Heavily.
Eligos clearly willed to make lefty heavy.
However, a white light burst from Caesar's body, nullifying Eligos' ability. Rather, the sharp wind created by Caesar's lefty grazed Eligos' cheek.
The excruciating pain made Eligos' mind faint, as if his cheekbone was being scraped with a red-hot iron. Eligos swung his sword again.
Breathlessly.
The ability contained in Eligos' horns clearly seeped into Caesar. Again, white light burst forth, completely nullifying Eligos' ability.
"I see."
Eligos deflected Caesar's axe.
"As I thought, you have the Immunity."
Eligos' ability is of the mental manipulation category.
It doesn't actually make things heavier, but makes them feel heavier. So even though Eligos tried to make Caesar's axe feel heavy and make Caesar feel breathless, it was all blocked by the mental defense ability of the Immunity.
"Then you won't be able to escape this."
Slowly.
This time, he trapped Caesar in a room of time.
Ding!
But contrary to expectations, the prison surrounding Caesar disappeared instantly like a bursting soap bubble. In battles between superhumans, a small moment of carelessness can lead to a big hit.
Lefty struck Eligos' side.
"Aaaaaahh!"
Pain twice as deep as when being hit with holy oil burned his internal organs.
Even though Eligos' formidable regenerative ability tried to drive out the flames, the Ark's holy flame clung tenaciously, burning Eligos' internal organs.
Eligos couldn't understand the identity of that white flame he was seeing for the first time, nor could he understand how Caesar had thwarted his ability. But more urgent than that was this terrible pain.
'I need life force.'
Eligos lunged toward Caesar. The purple sword energy contaminated Caesar's Aura and burrowed in.
At that moment, Caesar headbutted Eligos' forehead.
"Ugh!"
Eligos' vision swam.
Caesar kicked his stomach and broke away.
"This bastard is trying to act like a mosquito."
Eligos lunged at Caesar again.
When he tried to suck Caesar's youth again, Caesar engaged in sword wrestling and threw him over his shoulder.
"Ugh!"
The pain of his internal organs being crushed made Eligos' mind faint. For a technique from a senile old lady, it proves quite useful at times.
When Caesar tried to stomp on Eligos' head, Eligos quickly retreated.
"How......"
"What do you mean, how?"
Caesar drove Eligos back.
"You're getting your head broken because you're trying to win with cheap tricks."
Eligos couldn't gather his thoughts due to the consecutive attacks. It was because he had never met an opponent who could so perfectly counter his abilities.
Ding! Ding!
Mental attacks were meaningless, and it was impossible to trap him in a room of time. Even when he tried to suck out his life force, the guy didn't give him even a moment's chance to do so.
Caesar began to push Eligos back.
Eligos struggled to resist Caesar's attacks.
"Ugh!"
In the Valent saga, Eligos' physical abilities and combat stats are identical to Yan's.
He's even highly skilled in swordsmanship to the point of being able to handle sword energy. But if there's a fact that both Caesar and Eligos know, it's that that sword energy isn't real sword energy.
While Yan's sword energy was obtained through true enlightenment, that sword energy is an imperfect one created by the combination of Eligos' obsession and devil abilities.
Clang! Clang!
Caesar deflected Eligos' sword midway and then drove his knee into the broken part of his armor.
"Ugh!"
Eligos' waist bent and he coughed up blood.
When Eligos swung his sword, Caesar could see the path of his blade. The swordsmanship he knew was extremely diverse and the sword paths were flashy.
Originally, knights tend to have certain habits or patterns, and such habits and patterns are reflected in the swordsmanship they've learned. But Eligos had no such patterns or habits.
Eligos, like artificial intelligence, employs appropriate swordsmanship suitable for each situation. If ordinary knights were to face Eligos, they probably wouldn't be able to keep up with his ever-changing, versatile swordsmanship.
But it was of no use against Caesar.
This was because Caesar was reading through psychometry what kind of swordsmanship he would use in what situation. All Caesar had to do was provide the appropriate situation to induce a specific attack.
Caesar drove his elbow into his chin. He spit blood and stepped back. The look of confusion was evident in Eligos' eyes. He probably never expected to be so thoroughly countered.
"You......"
His body trembles. And resentment erupts from his voice.
"You are a genius."
Eligos' new horn grew back.
Along with the fifth horn, the left side that had been injured by the Ark's holy flame healed instantly. The aura emanating from Eligos had also changed.
"......A jewel that shines brighter than anyone else,"
Red drops of blood flowed from Eligos' eyes.
"You wouldn't understand my pain."
Eligos swung his sword.
Swiiiiiish!
It was a single slash, but it felt like receiving thousands of swords at once, a heavy attack that burrowed in. Because of this, despite receiving one-man support magic,
Caesar slid far back.
Caesar swallowed as his palms tingled.